• They’re made of fibreglass, not ABS plastic, so they won’t shatter if or when you come off.  Fibreglass is also easier to repair than ABS plastic.
• They have a sealed bellypan.  Most racing regulations state that your bellypan must be capable of holding fluid – you don’t want oil leaks spilling out on to your rear tyre, or on to the track!
• They have larger air ducts, which allow you to fit the higher flow race air tubes for additional performance.

Oh, they’re lighter, as well!  And, they can be made to look pretty good, if you get a decent paint job, and apply a few stickers.  Here’s a video I took, showing my Ducati in track form.

When I change from road to track and back again, I strip the bike down, and give it a good clean.  This is a video I took with the fairings off.

Oh… that dog’s not dead – that’s his favourite past time – sleeping!

As you can probably guess…  it didn’t happen.  I woke up with a stomach upset, and decided to go back to bed again.  Thankfully, the upset was fleeting, and by around mid-day, I was fine again, and rearing to get out on two wheels.

I decided to take the 848 out on the same route that I would have cycled – from Newcastle to Warners Bay, then over to Morriset, then across the bottom of Lake Macquarie to Doyalson, then back up the Pacific Highway and home.

As I was riding along, I noticed that the odometer was very close to the 12,000km mark, which is the first major service interval for the bike.

Just about to click over to 12,000kms

I thought it would be worthwhile to post up my thoughts and experiences.

Issues / Problems

Everybody wants to know about issues or problems you’ve had with the bike.  So, here they are:

• Gearbox.  When it was very new (less than 1,000kms), I had a few occasions where I missed a gear change from 2nd to 3rd.  It used to feel like it was “stuck” in 2nd gear.  It only happened when I was accelerating HARD, and only happened about three times in total.  This disappeared after the first service and oil change, so I suspect it was just a symptom of a new, tight gearbox.
• Mirror.  The left-hand mirror fell off when I was adjusting it.  Thankfully, in the garage.  I inspected the problem, and found that a little circlip had fallen off the back.  Looking up the service manual (I highly recommend buying this on DVD), it is not repairable.  I took it in to the dealer, and it was replaced under warranty.
• Screw.  This is my fault, I think.  I took off  the heat shield on the exhaust pipe (above the right footpeg), and had it ceramic coated (see earlier post).  I usually use red Locktite on everything – must have forgotten to use it here.  It wiggled its way loose, and I’ve replaced it.

I should have used Locktite!

• Brute strength Italians.  I did an oil change at the 6,000km mark (not needed, according to the manual, but can’t be too careful, hey?)  The oil sump plug was VERY tight – needed a large breaker bar to shift it.  The oil filter was put on by the same muscle-man in the factory – I destroyed it, and an oil filter strap, getting it off the engine.  I then tried to remove the four allen-bolts holding on the oil filter screen (you don’t need to do this procedure until the 24,000km service, but what the hey).  I rounded off one of the allen-bolts in the process, so left this one, and will get the dealer to replace all four at the first service.

That’s it.  Not much of an issues list really, given the fact that I’ve done 12,000kms, and 13 track days!

On the Road

When I first got the bike, it felt very harsh.  At the first service, I asked for the suspension to be “backed off”.  Not very technical of me, I know, but the dealer did what I asked, and loosened the preload both back and front.

It made a huge difference.  I weigh around 72kgs dripping wet, and I think the bike, stock, is set up for someone 30kgs heavier.

I then took it down to Zenodamper, who measured the sag, and did all sorts of black magic on the settings.

Now, on the road, you still feel the bumps.  It’s not a cruiser, by any means.  However, it is more comfortable than the earlier Ducatis, such as the 900ss.  I suspect it’s also more comfortable than the Sportsclassic 1000s – at least it felt that way after a short test of that bike.  However, whilst you still feel the bumps, you don’t feel like someone is punching your kidneys.

Around Town

This is a superbike, folks.  As such, it is FANTASTIC on the track, good on the open road, and not so great around town.  The first thing you notice is that there’s no need for gears 3 through 6.  Up until 60kmh, you’d be mad to be in a higher gear than 2nd.  Some people have performed a modification where they replace the front sprocket (15 tooth) with a smaller sprocket (14 tooth).  This gives lower gearing, making it more civilised in the city.   It DOESN’T affect the speedo – speed is read from the back wheel, not from the gearbox.

The next thing you notice is the heat.  This is a water-cooled high performance engine.  It also has under-seat exhaust pipes and mufflers, and the catalytic converters are built in to the mufflers.  Therefore, if it’s a warm day, say over 30 degrees Celsius, the heat blasting off the engine and pipes is significant, to put it mildly.  Also, get used to seeing 104 degrees on the dash – this seems to be common when cruising at low speeds.

The final thing you’ll notice is the sound!  The stock exhausts actually sound great!  I don’t know how they do it.  Someone told me that the noise test is done at 5,000 RPM, and Ducati have done some tricks to make sure that it passes (just) at that level.  At lower revs, the twin-cylinder burble is just fab.

Ducati 848 at 12,000kms

On the Track

As mentioned, as of today, I’ve done 13 track days, on three separate tracks (Eastern Creek, Wakefield Park, and Oran Park).  Now the comments below need to be taken in context: my very first track day was one year ago, on this bike.  So, I don’t have anything else to compare it with…

However, what I can say is that this bike just feels “planted”.  You tip it in to a corner, and it seems to track just where you want it to go.  You twist the throttle, and it responds instantly – no dips or spurts in the power delivery – which makes it very predictable.

Stock, these don’t come with steering dampers.  The big brothers (1098, 1098S, 1098R, 1198, etc.) all come with steering dampers.  For some reason (cost saving perhaps?) the 848 does not get one.  So far, however, I don’t feel like it’s needed one.  There are the odd occasion when accelerating out of a corner, where the front wheel has lofted upwards, and at the same time, the bike has waggled its head a little.  Nothing close to a tank-slapper – just a little waggle.  Some people fit the steering dampers on the 848 as an after-market accessory.  Maybe one day I will too.

The other thing I’d say is that this is a great bike to learn track-craft on.  I guess because of the well-sorted suspension, plus the smooth power delivery, the bike performs in a very predictable manner.  That makes it a good tool for learning a track, and for learning how to go faster.  I recall the first few times at Eastern Creek, for example.  I think I was lapping around the 2:10 to 2:15 mark.  The big goal for me was to crack 2:00.

When 2:00 was reached (I think it took me about three track days to get there), 1:58 was the goal.  Then, 1:55.  Then, I hit 1:52.1.  Last track day, on the very first session, on a slightly damp track, I was clocked at 1:52.0.

Ducati 848 at Eastern Creek

I’m still learning, and I have a long way to go.  I have a mate who races an 848, and he’s clocking 1:40, so there’s a good way to go before I’m at his pace!  The point is, however, that this bike is a fantastic aide in learning track-craft.

Summary

I love this bike!  In the space of twelve months, I’ve put 12,000 kms on the clock, and 13 track days.  That’s not bad going…

In that time, it’s proven to be very fast, very predictable, and very reliable.

At this next service, I am getting the valves timed, which will add a little more horsepower.  I *think* I’ll add the race air-tubes in the next three months, along with a performance air-filter.  Probably, at the same time, I’ll add a PCIII, and get it dyno-tuned.

In the meantime, I’ll continue to ride the crap out of it!  And will undoubtedly be grinning from ear to ear.

So, I decided to take the plunge, and ask more questions from people in the know.  There’s a really good community of knowledge out there, I’m finding, the trick is to know where, and who, to ask!

Someone put me on to Foran Exhausts, run by Dennis Foran.  They’re in Gosford, on the Central Coast.  I phoned them, and talked to Paul, and on the basis of that conversation, decided to drop the mufflers over to them for further work.

When I dropped them in, I had a chat to Paul, then to Dennis.  Paul’s suggestion was to totally remove the centre can, and to put a straight through perforated pipe in its place, wrapped with stainless steel wool and fibreglass.  Dennis agreed.

Dennis commented that the original mufflers were a “mechanical baffle” design.  Your two options with this type of design are to either leave it alone, or to remove it, and go the straight through pipe option.

I left the mufflers with them, and will pick them up on Thursday, just in time for a track day I have booked on Friday 13th March.  It will be a good test!

Foran Exhausts can be found here.  (If you’re visiting – phone them to check their address… the website may not be up to date in this regard.)

Essentially it displays a feed of new blog posts, one at a time, for your viewing pleasure.   It’s quite addictive!

When you find a blog that interests you – just hit the “pause” button, and spend some time reading through it.  What has amazed me is how interesting people are – whether it’s someone in Kansas starting a new blog, or a right-wing “ceo”, or someone involved in women’s cycling, or photos, etc., etc.

I recommend a visit if you’ve an hour or so to kill!

Someone posted a question about my fairings.  These are track fairings, and from a mob called Racers Edge.  You can see them at www.racersedge.com.au .  They’re a small operation, but the fairings are very good quality.  The spray painter mentioned that he thought they’d been well finished, and looking at the final result, after spraying, I’d have to agree!

One thing I need to do, though, is to buy their performance air-tubes.  If you own a 1098 or an 848 – try taking the air tubes off, and looking inside them.  They narrow down quite severely in the middle – I doubt you’d fit a matchbox through there.  Apparently they’re designed that way to meet noise requirements.

Also, the stock tubes fall short of the air ducts in the track fairings – by about 3 or 4 cm.  It’s no big deal – I’ve done a number of track days with them like this, but it would be nicer to have the right ones – more airflow = more performance, and they’d also look a little neater!

Ready for the track! (With my little helper...)

It takes me roughly an hour and a half to completely remove all the road fairings, lights, mirrors, number plates, indicators, and re-fit the track fairings.  I don’t mind doing this job – I take it slow, have a beer whilst doing it, and use the opportunity with the bike stripped to do some cleaning!

Stripped - good time to detail it!

While we’re on the topic of cleaning the bike – I’m a fan of WD40.  If you ever want to “troll” a motorcycle forum, post up a question on the pros and cons of WD40 for cleaning your chain!  Anyhow, I use it on a rag, and clean around the engine – particularly underneath to remove the oily road grime.  It works a treat!

For painted surfaces – right now I’m using a spray carnuba wax cleaner.  I bought it from a stand at a service station, and am nearly out of it, so won’t post up details here until I can find a steady supply.  However… it is magic!  I thought it would be a gimmick, but lordy, does this stuff clean and shine, and so quick to use!  Stay tuned for an update…

All back in Road form now! (Where's my helper gone...)

Some said that they sounded great, and all said that they were an improvement over stock.  However, some said that they were a much higher pitched tone than the Termignoni pipes, and made the bike sound like a cross between a Ducati and a Jap twin.  On the track (I always wear earplugs, by the way), they sounded good, but not awesome.

So, after discussing the mods I’d made, and looking at some other systems (including a very nice 70mm full racing system), we agreed that one big difference was the small stock outlet that I’d left in the end caps.

That made for a very nice little Sunday chore!  I decided to leave the pipes on the bike for this last little modification.  The first step was to drill holes all around the small pipe in the end cap.

Holy Mufflers, Batman!

Once the holes were all drilled, the next step was to enlarge the holes, and then punch out the small bits of metal inbetween.  This didn’t take that long, really – just a few minutes.

Out, Damned Pipe!

This enabled the small pipe to be lifted out, but it left a jagged, rough looking edge inside the end cap.

Jagged Edge! (Maybe I should have left it this way?)

This is the bit that took the longest.  I used a combination of a good metal file (thank you Mr Sandvik!), and a grinding wheel on a Dremel tool.  Just on the Dremel – I started with one of those fine, long grinding stones, but broke it, so ended up using the larger, fat grinding wheel.  It worked a treat.  It also helps to have the flexible shaft for the Dremel as well (in fact, I use this for most jobs).

The finished job looks quite neat – you’d never know that it had that small pipe there at all!

Finished! That's a LARGE opening now.

As you can see from the above picture, you can see right through the muffler now.  Essentially, the exhaust gases now flow from the motor, through one of three smaller openings in the two baffle plates, and then out the large opening that I’ve just made.

For the next post, I’ll add some video sound clips that I took of the stock muffler, then after the initial reconstruction, and finally, after this last modification.

One thing, though – the video doesn’t capture the sound very well at all.  It’s freaking loud.

Stock 1098s Pipe (1 of 2, of course!)

The first thing you notice with these mufflers is that they have a series of rivets around the front (engine) end, and the rear end (the exhaust cap).  I decided to attack the front end first.  The rivets drill out quite easily – the only thing to worry about really is that you don’t use too big a bit, and enlarge the holes.

Drilling out the rivets

Once all the rivets are drilled, they need to be punched out of the hole.  I used a small nail punch and a hammer – they really only need a slight tap.

Punching the rivets

The next step is to use a wide-bladed screwdriver placed up against the lip of the cap that you want to slide off.  Then, carefully, a few taps at a time on each side, hammer the cap off.  Again, if you’re careful and patient, it won’t mark the cap, and in no time, it’s off.

Killing the Cat

Inside this cap is a steel cylinder, and inside that, the catalytic converter.  Now these things are essential for the road, ripping all sorts of nasties out of the exhaust.  As you can see in this photo, they’re essentially a whole lot of very fine metal, honeycombed into the cylinder.  Sort of like a heavy duty foil of some sort.  If you hold them up to the light, you can see through them.  When the exhaust runs through them, the thin metal foil heats up to red-hot, and burns the bad stuff to a powder.  All good stuff, but just a little too restrictive for race mufflers, so they have to go.

The Catalytic Converter

The problem with this is – they’re an absolute bitch to get rid of!  The foil is welded or glued to the sides of the steel cylinder, so they don’t tap out easily.  After experimenting with the first muffler, I decided that the best way to get rid of them was to cut the cylinder in half, shortening it.  Then, the theory went, it should be easier to prise / tap this thing out.

Use an angle grinder with a cut-off wheel to cut the cylinder in half

Once the cylinder was cut, I decided to tap out the cat, using my old wide-bladed flat screwdriver, and a mallet.

Oops!

I started bashing away at the cat, screwdriver pushed through the exhaust pipe end, and mallet swinging madly.  Nothing!  It wouldn’t budge at all.  More bashing.  Still no movement.  It was then that I noticed – I’d punched the screwdriver right through the steel cylinder wall!

See the nice hole? D'oh!

Success

A change in tactics had me using a fine flat-bladed screwdriver, prising the glued cat material off the walls.  I worked my way around the cylinder as best as I could, then used a large socket on the end of a socket extension rod, pushed through the exhaust pipe, and whaled on that mallet again!

Dead Cat!

T’Other End

Using the same technique as above, I then drilled and punched out the rivest from the cap end, and tapped the cap off the outer cover.  Once it was out a little way, I then tapped from the engine end, and the whole tube slid out.  You can see that sandwiched between the inner muffler tube and the outer skin is some muffler packing material.  It was intact, and in good order, and I decided that I would try and save this – for both insulation and sound quality reasons (didn’t want a tinny, harsh sound).

The deconstructed muffler

Once apart, the end cap had to be removed from the muffler.  The best way to do this is with an angle grinder and a metal cut-off wheel, although you could also use a Dremel if you were patient.

After cutting the cap off, you can see that the cap has a skinny tube that fit inside a hole in the rear baffle.  What this means is that the exhaust gasses have to flow from the engine end, through the catalytic converter, to the rear of the muffler, then back through a hole to the middle section between the two baffle plates, and then back through this skinny tube to the exit.  Too restrictive!

The baffles. The tube goes up that centre hole.

The easiest way to fix this problem was to cut off the tube.  I’d seen some people who attacked this by completely removing the tube from the cap, and enlarging the exit hole.  However, I decided to keep a small section of the tube in place for the moment.

The end cap, with the tube cut off

One final thing I needed to do was to remove the bits of the rivets from the end cap.  Once you punch them through, they are stuck inside the end cap, and there’s seemingly no way to get them out.  However, if you look closely at the design, you’ll see that one of the holes is not used by a rivet – the one where the stainless steel bands on the two mufflers join together.  So, using a larger drill bit, I drilled this hole out, and shook the rivets out.

Welding

The next step was to weld the cap back on to the muffler tube.  This should be easy!  I actually went down to the hardware, and bought a cheap arc welder.  Now the last time I welded at all was in technical studies classes at high school!  Woah!  It’s not that easy, as it turns out.  The muffler material is really quite thin, and the arc welder was blowing holes into it with great abandon.

I turned the amps way down, and decided to just tack the cap into place.  This was a lot more successful!

Chris's Crappy Welding

The final step was to get some muffler putty, and work that in to the gaps left by the welder.  This stuff is amazing – but you do need to make sure you wire-brush the area well before you use it.  It also helps to wet the area, which helps the putty work into the gaps, and helps it stick to the metal.

I left that to dry overnight, and came back the next day for the finale!

Reconstruction

The final step was to slide the muffler back through the fibreglass, and rivet the caps on. That wasn’t quite as easy as it sounded – the first few attempts had me ripping the fibreglass matting.  I then decided to get an old plastic shopping bag, cut the bottom out of it, put that inside the outer case, then slide the inner case through the bag.  That worked well, and the bag was easy to remove once the muffler was halfway in place.

Then, a little muffler putty around the cap end (overkill), and it was tapped into place until the rivet holes lined up perfectly.  The final step was to put the exhaust end on, and again, a little muffler putty, and a few taps, and it was all good.

The very final stage was to rivet the caps back on.  This was easy – the only thing to watch out for is that the exhaust cap end can only take very short rivets – so make sure that you have the right ones.

Modified mufflers on - and originals on the floor

Conclusion

There were a few little hiccups along the way, but all in all, I had a good time out in the garage with the tools, and was very pleased with the result.  The sound is superb!  I have taken a few short videos of before and after, and in the next post, will link to these.

I’ll also put them to good use very shortly – trackday coming up!!!

The stock mufflers on the 848 /1098 are not that bad.  Some reviewers have commented on the noise they make – a nice deep rumble.  For the road – I like them.  I’m not really one for upsetting the neighbours…

Stock Ducati 848 Exhaust System

For the track, though, they’ve  a few problems.  Firstly, they are too restrictive.  The stock design is such that the gases travel from the engine to the rear of the muffler, then back to the centre, then back to the rear, and out.  On the way through, they pass through a catalytic converter, which further restricts gas flow.  Clearly, something needs to be done about this!

Alternatives

The number one muffler for the Ducati is the Termignoni brand.  These are available in either a full race system, which replaces header pipes as well as mufflers, or just a slip-on, which leaves your pipes intact.  The problem with these (for me) is the price: over $4k for the full system, and over $2k for the slip-ons.

There are other brands out there as well, such as Arata, Arrows, Akrapovic (a lot of brands starting with “A”), just to mention a few.  Most are a little cheaper than the Termis, but still a little out of my league.

Reconstruction

I had a quick chat to my motorcycle mechanic, who said that he’d been looking at the stock cans, and felt that it shouldn’t take a lot of work to pull them apart, remove some baffles, then put them back together.  He felt that it should give me a slight performance gain on the track, not to mention a little more noise.

This prompted me to research the idea.  I found a post on www.ducatispot.com (here) that showed someone doing exactly that.

Purchase

I posted a note up on the Ducatispot forum, asking if any Aussies had some spare stock mufflers they’d like to part with, cheap.  I’d seen some go on the US ebay site for under $100, but the freight would have made them double that price in the end.   I had a few replies, but nobody wanted to “give them away”, and I don’t blame them!

After a few weeks, though, a set came up on ebay, in Sydney.  After a little wait, and a well-timed bid, I got them for just under $100.

Here’s one of them before I started my reconstruction job.  They’re off a 1098s, so they are the darker colour.  Not that this matters – I’ll probably get them ceramic coated, like my stockers.

Stock 1098s Can (1 of 2, of course!)

Next post: the Deconstruction / Reconstruction

The stock exhuast system on the Ducati 848 is made from stainless steel.  Stainless steel is great in that it doesn’t rust, but it discolours with heat, and the stock surface is porous and seems to attract all kinds of dirt and road grime.

I’ve read on some forums these posts where people have pulled their systems off, and then laboriously buffed them until they’re shiny.  Very shiny.  If you’re into bling in a big way – this would be the way to go.

I decided I was after something a little less labour intensive, and perhaps not quite so shiny.  That’s when I started reading up about a popular coating for exhaust systems – ceramic coating.

Ceramic Coating

Ceramic coating is exactly what it sounds like.  A ceramic powder is blown onto the pipes, and baked at high temperatures.  The coating is applied to both the inside and the outside of the header pipes.  A number of different finishes and colours are available – from matt black, to gloss black, silver, white, etc.  A number of guys had recommended coating in the USA by a group called Jet-Hot.  I googled them, and guess what?  They’re in Australia too!  http://www.jet-hot.com.au/

I decided to get mine done in their new “Sterling” coat.

Before

Here’s how the bike looked before the job, and how the exhaust system looked.  Note the discolouration – stainless goes a sort of yellow brown after time.

The Ducati 848, before

Here’s a shot with all of the pipes off.  They were surprisingly easy to remove – just one of the nuts on the rear header was in an awkward spot, but not too difficult.

Ducati 848, Exhaust System Off

Here’s a close-up of the system.  Yes, the pipes are relatively clean, but I’m fussy!

Stock Ducati 838 Exhaust System

After

I boxed up the system, including the black heat shields, and the muffler retaining springs, and sent them off to Jet-Hot in Melbourne.  After about a ten day wait, they arrived back, all coated!  (I got the heat shields done in matt black.  They were already coated, but I think just with heat-proof paint, and I wanted a better finish.)

Here’s a picture of the results!

Ducati 848 exhaust, after ceramic coating by Jet-Hot Melbourne

I’m very pleased with how they turned out.  The finish isn’t as bright as chrome – it looks more like your grandmother’s polished silver tea pot, if you know what I mean.

Here’s a shot with them back on the bike.

Ducati 848, with ceramic coated exhaust system

And here’s a final shot, complete with an admirer.  (That’s Levi, folks.  60+kgs of Rhodesian Ridgeback.  A fantastic security system, and a big help in the garage!)

Ducati 848 with an admirer